Political leaders today are different than those who led our country throughout the rest of history. Their followers were more intent on knowing that their representatives were going to offer them protection and take action for plans that would implement positive change on the economy, environment, and their personal comfort.
During the present centuries, political leaders such as state representatives, governors, and presidential candidates are looked at more as celebrities and idols. They may or may not take a stance on any topic, but if they do, that is not what is taken into consideration by the voter population. Instead, factors like physical appearances and biased opinions are more heavily looked at by the people.
For example, JFK was looked at as a prime candidate primarily for his looks. He was younger and more lively looking than his pier candidate Richard Nixon. This was proven by the voters who watched the debate on television as opposed to those who listened to the radio. Nixon was making better points and statements, but had refused to wear makeup for the television. This made him look more sickly. A more recent example would be Donald Trump. He has a large following, regardless of his biased opinions and lack of evidence to back up his claims.
Now, of course every political party/leader has their own view(s) on various major national and international topics. However, when the views expressed by these parties/leaders are not backed up by facts and data, they become mere opinions. Unfortunately, a major problem today is that so many of the people who are meant to be representing us (the voters and citizens) are basing their actions primarily on such views. Views that have no facts, data, or statistics for evidence. This can be seen clearly by the amount of people who follow certain people in the political world.
I’m going to look in particular at Donald Trump and his campaign throughout last year and the beginning of this year. The people who follow him seem to be doing so blindly. There’s no other way a person can honestly look at his ideas, the way he presents himself, or the invalidness of his statements and think “What a great future president! I’d be proud for him to represent my country!”.
For starters, throughout any discussions he is present in, he has completely zero class when talking to fellow candidates. And zero respect when arguing with them. He makes faces, he mocks his opponents, and he makes racist as well as sexist remarks. Not only does he make remarks such as these, but he also bashes on immigrants (illegal and legal) who are in America.
Should illegal immigrants be allowed to live here as normal citizens do? Maybe, maybe not. The important thing, though, is that all humans should be equally respected. Trump made one comment in June of 2015 saying that half of the immigrants without documentation in America are criminals. This is an example of a fact that should have been backed by evidence. An article from CNN tells us that the latest estimate of illegal immigrants in America is 11.2 million people. Of those, only 177,960 were convicted criminals.
His opinions are always linked to his policy ideas. Instead of taking a real stance on topics such as that of immigrants, he makes racist remarks. One of his numerous racist remarks was “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re sending people that have lots of problems…They’re rapists”. Where is any evidence to support this statement? When he was asked to provide his logic and evidence for his claim, he responded “Well, somebody’s doing the raping…Who’s doing the raping?”. The irony is, unfortunately, that many of the people he’s targeting are still behind him and his campaign. According to an article from MSNBC, Trump “ carr[ies] 45 percent of Latino Republicans”, and an article from The Daily Beast states that a survey released in late February of this year shows that “[Donald] Trump commands 12 percent of the black vote nationally”.
His other various points are no more founded in actual facts than those of his remarks regarding immigrants. His idea on gun control, for example, is less than ideal. When asked about his belief on the urgency of gun control, he answered “You could make the case that it would have been a lot better had people had guns because they could fire back”. He was using the fact that the last mass shooting took place in an area where guns were not allowedas a reference/example. That was his evidence. Shouldn’t gun laws have been more enforced in this scenario? Trump’s logic seems highly contradictory in this sense.
Now, with all this being said, why are people following such a man? Obviously, his lack of knowledge about real politics is not deterring people from him. And the fact that he’s successful and worth a lot of money makes people slightly more interested. One reason he may be doing so is because people are easily swayed by radical thinkers. As well as the fact that he voices or digs out people’s subconscious opinions and pins blame on scapegoats.
The people who are following Trump obviously believe he can help to “Make America great again”, as his slogan so adamantly suggests. These voters and potential voters are following someone who struggles with a decent public image and who makes little to no effort to support any of his ideas and statements with facts. This means they themselves (the voters) are not all too concerned with proper and correct statements and arguments based on evidence. Similar minds think alike in this way, at least. Trump is playing off of these people’s pride in their country, in a sense. One of his only definite statements has been one about creating a wall between North and South America. Trump also says that he wants to bring jobs back to America that are currently being outsourced, but this can’t 100% be done, and he has no real plan. The fact that people support these ideas is due to fear of foreigners. He’s using pride in one’s country as well as fear to gather a following. It’s a dangerous combination. In fact, it’s similar to the way in which Adolf Hitler gained his following during WWII…
However, Trump claims that “people who follow me are very passionate”. This passion is something that, when misplaced, can cause politicians to be viewed more as idols rather than as actual prospective candidates. Of course there are some political leaders whose passion is founded in going to proper lengths and measures to ensure that us as citizens have our needs met. However, in cases such as that involving Donald Trump, people are following ideas and images rather than facts and real life data. Therein is where the problem lies.
Sources:
http://www.ontheissues.org/Donald_Trump.htm
http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/trump-took-victory-lap-winning-the-latino-vote-heres-why-hes-wrong
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/02/25/how-black-voters-could-help-trump-win.html
http://www.ontheissues.org/2016/Donald_Trump_Gun_Control.htm
